Jazz Artists Who Have Nicknames

[patricia]

Gotta love Harry!!! He looks like he's having such a good time that you can't help having a good time too.

Great pic, EKE BBB!!!

[patricia]

And now we have MAJOR "MULE" HOLLEY, born in Detroit in 1924.

Holley first played violin. He then switched to tuba, while in a navy band, finally settling on the double bass, having studied at Groth School of Music.

His list of musical achievements is long, and he played with Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald and one of my favourite pianists, Oscar Peterson.

From 1952 he did studio work for BBC TV and became very well-known and very well liked there.

Mule moved back to the U.S. in the late fifties and worked for Woody Herman, the Zoot Sims/ Al Cohn quintet, as well as with Duke Ellington in 1964.

He then freelanced for about three years, then taught music at Berklee College in Boston.

In the seventies, Holley was the house bassist at Jimmy Ryan's as well as playing festivals, concerts and jazz parties. He also recorded, both as a leader and with artists such as Rose Murphy.

During that period he also toured with Helen Humes and the Kings Of Jazz.

As recently as 1981, Holley made a wonderful appearance on Bob James' "Sign Of The Times" album. If you can find this collection, there is something very interesting on it and that is Holley's long-established trademark of singing and bowing the bass. This is quite similar to what Slam Stewart used to do, except that Holley didn't sing an octive above what he was playing, the way that Stewart did.

I find that the album I like best is "Midnight Blue" [1963 Blue Note] which, as the title suggests, is a blues collection and very moody and beautiful, I think. It includes in the personel, Kenny Burrell and Stanley Turrentine and the rhythm section is straight-forward, no-foolishness on Holley's part along with Bill English on drums and Ray Barretto. Worth looking for.

MAJOR MULE HOLLEY died in October of 1990 at sixty-six years old.

Edited April 25, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

In 1899 in Royville Louisiana, FRANK "BIG BOY" GOUDIE was born.

I profiled Bunk Johnson, a few back and Big Boy was a trumpet student of Bunk's. He worked in Papa Celestin's Tuxedo Band, starting in 1910, amazingly, at eleven years old, if my dates are right, and played in New Orleans for ten years.

By 1921 he was touring in minstrel shows, until he moved to Paris in 1925.

While in Europe, Goudie played with some very famous leaders, including Noble Sissle, Sam Wooding and Willie Lewis.

When the war broke out, Big Boy headed for Brazil and Argentina, until it was over.

In 1946 he moved back to France and worked for Arthur Briggs, Blyn Paque and Bill Coleman.

The fifties came along and they found our guy in Berlin. He spent a few years there, but moved back to the U.S. in the mid-fifties. In San Francisco, where he settled, he went on to play with a variety of bands.

But, his main source of a living was a furniture upholstery business, which he ran from his house.

FRANK BIG BOY GOUDIE died in January of 1964 at sixty-five years old.

Edited April 25, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

And now we have the clarinet and saxophone player, "MEZZ" MEZZROW [Milton Mesirow], who was born in Chicago in 1899.

Mezzrow was the butt of Eddie Condon's sarcastic sense of humour, due to his rather limited musical ability, but his preoccupation with black players and his determination to identify with them, resulted in his being called "Southmouth" by Condon.

Sidney Bechet said of Mezzrow, rather unkindly, "When a man is trying so hard to be something he isn't, then some of that will show in the music. The idea of it will be wrong."

But, as the years went by, Mezzrow's career progressed and he put together bands which included Benny CArter, Pops Foster and Teddy Wilson and he achieved a certain measure of success during the 1930's.

However, Mezz was somewhat undisciplined and his bands didn't last long. Apparently, he developed a fondness for drugs and was a major marijuana supplier.

Eddie Condon recalled an important audition for a Bond Bread commercial this way, "Mezz got a big band together to audition for some Bond Bread commercials. We all assembled and the bakers were sitting there waiting for him to give the downbeat. Just before he did Mezz turned and said, 'Man, am I high?'. We didn't get the job."

But, Mezzrow did very well in the years that followed, leading a big band in 1933, sessions with Frankie Newton and near perfect sets with Tommy Ladnier. He also did a memorable set of what are considered masterpieces for Hugues Panassie in 1938 on the King James label.

I have those sessions on vinyl and they are wonderful. On that set of records, it's clear that Mezzrow had a deep feeling for the blues and displayed what has been described as well-thought-out lines and very appealing acid tones.

In 1948, Mezzrow appeared at the jazz festival in Nice and became a huge star in Europe. He toured regularly with Buck Clayton, Gene Sedric and Jimmy Archey and recorded in Paris, with Lionel Hampton.

He also, not leaving behind his past completely, served as a marijuana supplier for Louis Armstrong during those years.

Check out "In Paris 1955" [Jazz Time] which were Mezz' last major sessions. The collection was originally titled, "A La Scala Cantorium" and consists of two extended 12 bar improvisations. Also included are a few bonus titles from a few months later. Interesting and quite enjoyable, I think.

MEZZ MEZZROW died in August of 1972 at seventy-three.

Edited April 26, 2004 by patricia

[EKE BBB]

MEZZ MEZZROW

[EKE BBB]

FRANK BIG BOY GOUDIE

[EKE BBB]

MAJOR HOLLEY (with the Hawk)

[patricia]

VERY nice, EKE BBB. Again, I thank you.

[patricia]

In 1903, in Aiken, South Carolina, "BUBBER' [James Wesley] MILEY was born.

Bubber played trumpet and was also a composer.

He played in clubs and caberets around New York and also toured with the blues singer, Mamie Smith in the early 1920's.

While Bubber was on tour with Smith in Chicago, he chanced to hear King Oliver and was so taken with him, that he went back to listen every night, for about two weeks.

In 1923 Duke Ellington was at the basement of the Bucket of Blood club on 135th Street in New York and heard Miley, who was performing with trombonist, Charlie Irvis. Miley was offered a job with Elmer Snowden's Washintonians, which was playing at the Kentucky club.

Well, Miley was a huge, huge hit and spies, including Paul Whiteman, along with his featured trumpeter, Henry Busse slinked around to the club, to listen............and to steal.

Miley's style was revolutionary. He had a very unique, growling quality to his playing, which was different than what the other trumpeters were doing at the time.

Bubber was a good-looking, good time kid whose joy was his music. He also loved to battle with his competetors.

Miley and "Tricky Sam" Nanton, in Ellington's new band made a great team. According to Ellington, "They were always blowing for each other and getting ideas for what they wanted to play."

Bubber Miley was a valuable member of Ellington's team, helping to develop many of his compositions.

Unfortunately, Bubber was a heavy drinker and when he drank, he became unreliable to the point that even when he did show up, he was unable to play.

Cootie Williams took his place with Ellington in 1929 and Bubber left the band, to freelance in Europe.

While in Europe he worked in France with Noble Sissle and came back to the U.S. from time to time, working with Zutty Singleton and Leo Reisman.

Although Miley did record, his recordings made in the late twenties were disappointing, showing a definite decline in his talent. But, he was playing for revues and one of those revues was Roger Pryor Dodge's "Sweet And Low", as well as another pruduction by Billy Rose, "Third Little Show".

Later in 1931, Bubber had his own show, "Harlem Scandals", which was created around his band by Irving Mills, who was Ellington's manager.

Duke Ellington said of Bubber, "Our band changed character when Bubber came in. That's when we forgot all about the sweet music." True enough. When Bubber was with the band, it had a much harder edge.

Unfortunately, he was struck with tuberculosis, while on the road with his show in 1932.

Sadly, BUBBER MILEY died in May of 1932. He was only twenty-nine years old.

Edited April 29, 2004 by patricia

[EKE BBB]

BUBBER MILEY

[patricia]

Thank you, EKE BBB. Bubber looks FINE.

...........................

Next we have "BUD" [Lawrence] FREEMAN, who was born in Chicago, in 1906.

Bud played the C melody saxophone initially, but changed to tenor around 1925, after about two years.

Apparently, Eddie Condon heard Bud play what Condon described as "a saxophone green with corrosion, which sounded the way it looked."

However, between the time that that rather unflattering comment was made and a year later, Bud's sound had matured and refined itself, becoming much more impressive. Presumably, he also acquired a saxophone that was more up to snuff.

For nine years, Freeman worked with a truly stellar list of famous bandleaders, including Red Nichols, Meyer Davis, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Ben Pollack, Zez Confrey, Joe Venuti and Gene Kardos.

He was regularly recording by now, and one of his more well-known records was "Sugar", with the flip-side being "Nobody's Sweetheart" in 1927, by the McKenzie/Condon Chicagoans, which was the Chicagoans' first recording. The next hit came in 1933, which was "The Eel".

Freeman then worked with Joe Haymes' band, which featured a young, up-and-coming trumpet player, Pee Wee Erwin.

He then went with Ray Noble and played New York's Rainbow Room in July of 1935.

1936 found Bud playing in Tommy Dorsey's fabulous band, after which he moved onto Benny Goodman, staying with him for about nine months in 1938.

But, the grueling work schedule got to Bud, working nine shows a night and he left.

Falling on his feet, he fronted the legendary Summa Cum Laude orchestra and did hotel work, as well as filling a spot in "Swingin' The Dream", which was a musical that closed soon after. This show was based on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

When the war came along, Bud joined the military and led service bands. After the war was over, he made regular appearances at Eddie Condon's, starting in 1945.

Although Bud is frequently heard on records with Condon, Freeman was actually carving out a solo career during that period and he did many recordings under his own name.

Interestingly, Freeman did solo work in Peru and also in Chile, as well as leading his own bands in New York and Chicago. Apparently, having more hours in a day than most of us, he also found time to study with Lennie Tristano.

As time went on, during the 1960's he was travelling all over the world, soloing and also creating best-selling records.

In 1968 Bud was a founder member of The World's Greatest Jazz Band and was with them for three years, but then went back to solo work.

As a soloist, in the seventies, Bud lived in London for a while, then moved back to the U.S. and settled in Chicago. He didn't retire then, but continued to perform right into his early eighties.

But, his failing health eventually forced him to slow down and he did finally retire.

Bud Freeman's style, along with that of Coleman Hawkins, is probably the most recognizable turning point in the evolution of the tenor saxophone. Much as Bix Beiderbecke provided an alternative to the style of Louis Armstrong, back in the twenties, Freeman did the same for the vocabulary of white pre-bop tenors, contrasting with the style of Hawkins. His influence is still being felt as evidenced by the work of Eddie Miller, Boomie Richman, Nick Caiazza and Tom Pastor.

BUD FREEMAN died in March of 1991, at eighty-five years old.

You might want to hear one of my favourite collections, which is "It's Got To Be The Eel: A Tribute To Bud Freeman" [1939-1940 Affinity] which contains classic titles played by the "Summa Cum Laude" band. The collection also includes Muggsy Spanier's Ragtimers and Bob Crosby's "Bobcats". A really interesting singer, Teddy Grace, also appears on this collection.

Another, I think, exceptionally good album is "Bud Freeman 1928-38 1939-40" [Classics 781/811] which includes in it's personel, Bunny Berigan and Bobby Hackett, as well as Gene Krupa and the great Dave Tough. Look for this, listen to it and love it, as I do.

Edited April 29, 2004 by patricia

[EKE BBB]

BUD FREEMAN

[JSngry]

What if Sonny Rollins had never been dubbed "Sonny"?

Can you imagine "Ted Rollins" or "Walt Rollins" or "T.W. Rollins" or "T.Walter Rollins" or "Teddy Rollins" or "Theodore Rollins" having the same life and making the same music?

No! It HAD to be "Sonny Rollins"!

These things happen for a reason, I say...

[EKE BBB]

What if Sonny Rollins had never been dubbed "Sonny"?

Can you imagine "Ted Rollins" or "Walt Rollins" or "T.W. Rollins" or "T.Walter Rollins" or "Teddy Rollins" or "Theodore Rollins" having the same life and making the same music?

No! It HAD to be "Sonny Rollins"!

These things happen for a reason, I say...

And do you imagine this board with a guy called Agustín Sangrey or Ebenezer Sangrey writing loooooooong posts??? Life woudn´t be the same!

[patricia]

What if Sonny Rollins had never been dubbed "Sonny"?

Can you imagine "Ted Rollins" or "Walt Rollins" or "T.W. Rollins" or "T.Walter Rollins" or "Teddy Rollins" or "Theodore Rollins" having the same life and making the same music?

No! It HAD to be "Sonny Rollins"!

These things happen for a reason, I say...

Exactly. But, it seems as though jazzers were pikers, with regard to nicknames, compared to bluesmen. Almost ALL bluesmen had nicknames and even those who could see perfectly well, sometimes took the names "blind-boy" or "blind..........." whatever their name was.

But jazzers, I think, had more interesting nicknames, compared to their real names. You have a point that for example, "JIGGS" WHIGHAM sounds better than Haydn Whigham would have.

Would you have remembered Joseph Matthews Manone?? WINGY MANONE is certainly more descriptive.

PECK KELLY is cooler than John Dickson Kelly would have been.

DAVE TOUGH is more memorable, and oddly perfectly descriptive of the drummer whose real name was David Jarvis.

Is it any wonder that basing a thread on the nicknames that jazz musicians had bestowed upon them occurred to me??

Shakespeare had it all wrong. A name, particularly a nickname, is not meaningless.

-------------------------------------------------

Sometimes artists have changed their nicknames, depending on what was going on in their life.

For example, the pianist, composer, Indian-African-flute-player, soprano-sax player, who also plays the cello and, if that weren't enough and Lord knows it ought to be, also sings, Adolph Johannes Brand was first known, professionally as "DOLLAR BRAND".

He later converted to Islam and took the name ABDULLAH IBRAHIM. Because he did have a nickname, he can be included among our merry group.

Ibrahim was born in Cape Town, South Africa and learned to play piano as a child.

His early years were filled with the hymns, gospel songs and spirituals of the American-influenced African Methodist Episcopal Church, but he also grew up with the sounds of Louis Jordan and The Tympany Five hits, that the ice-cream venders blasted from their vans.

This artist's first paid work was with a vocal group, The Streamline Brothers and he sang traditional songs, pop songs, doo-wop and also spirituals.

He also played piano with the Tuxedo Slickers and then with the Willie Max dance band in the late fifties.

This was followed by his own band, which he led in 1960 which was the first black group in South Africa to record an LP.

Ibrahim moved to Europe in 1962 and for two years, he played at the Cafe Africana in Zurich.

He had been seeing a lovely girl, Bea Benjamin, who had connections to the jazz world, which led to Ibrahim being given the opportunity to be heard by Duke Ellington.

Ellington was so impressed that he sponsored Ibriham in 1963 at the Antibes, Juan-les-Pins and Palermo festivals.

Then, in 1964 he appeared at the Montmartre in Copenhagen.

Ibriham moved to the U.S. at Ellington's suggestion, in 1965 and played at the Newport festival that year., staying on in New York for three years.

His accomplishments since then span from his switching in the mid-sixties, to free-jazz, to his re-embracement of his African heritage, musically.

In the mid-seventies, he organized a South African jazz festival, paying no attention to the rules of Apartheid, still in place, which was a huge success. He did however, leave South Africa three days after the festival to settle in New York.

He continued to perform, often with his wife, Sathima [the afore-mentioned Bea Benjamin, who also converted to Islam].

Ibrahim wrote and performed the music for the enormously successful French films, "Chocolat" and "No Fear - No Die".

Find the 1969 "African Piano" collection [Japo}, if you want to hear a beautiful example of Ibriham's work. It combines traditional jazz with his South African roots and is mesmorizing, at least to me.

Edited April 29, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

Now, let's talk about the trumpet, trombone, saxophone, piano, banjo-playing [John R. T.] "RISTIC" DAVIES.

Davies was born in 1927 in Wivelfield Sussex, U.K. He started his career with Mick Mulligan's band. In 1949, he joined what was considered a revolutionary band, Crane River Jazz Band, whose mission was to revive the original New Orleans jazz style, preserving it, or as they put it "playing it properly".

To that end, Ristic formed the first of two excellent record companies, while spending time playing with bands led by Steve Lane and Cy Laurie.

In what Davies described as "the sixteen most valuable months in my career", in 1955, he joined Sandy Brown's band.

Four years later, in 1959, he joined the Temperance Seven and was there for nine years, as a multi-instrumentalist and also as an arranger.

1968 found Davies working regularly with the cornettist, Dick Sudhalter in the Anglo-American Alliance, which he says was his favourite band.

He also was with the New Paul Whiteman Orchestra, in which he played the Frank Trumbauer part.

By 1972, Davies was co-director of Retrieval Records, which is a company that reissues a catalogue of vintage jazz, reproduced with meticulousness, which characterizes Davies' attention to detail, and restores the old masters to mint quality, by special processes.

That is not to say that Ristic quit playing. On the contrary. He continued to appear at Crane River Jazz Band reunions, recorded with Jimmie Noone Jr and Dick Sudhalter and led his own band, John R.T.'s Gentle Jazz. His band includes trombonist Jim Shepherd, as well as another senior master, Nevil Skrimshire on guitar.

In 1999, Davies underwent major surgery, but he is up and around again and continuing his lifelong mission to bring real Dixieland to those of us who love it.

Edited April 29, 2004 by patricia

[EKE BBB]

ABDULLAH IBRAHIM

[EKE BBB]

JOHN R.T. DAVIES

[patricia]

Beautiful pictures, EKE BBB. Thank you so much!!!

___________________________________________

Of course, during the 1920's through the 1940's my favourite players included Miff Mole, Tony Parenti and Joe Sullivan, but a slightly lesser-known cornet player, who was a contemperary, was "DOC" [Paul Wesley] EVANS.

Doc was born in 1907 in Spring Valley, Minnesota and worked with Red Dougherty's band in the late 1920's.

In Chicago he led his own band in the forties and occasionally played in New York.

Doc's reputation was that of a lyrical and technically accomplished player and he played with many of the better-known stars of the day, such as the afore-mentioned Mole, Parenti and Sullivan.

There are recordings which were made for Audiophile in the 1950's and co-featured John "Knocky" Parker. This pairing brought Evans into the forefront in the jazz revival which was at it's peak during that period.

As the sixties came around, Doc was still hard at it, and he led the Mendota Symphona Orchestra. His last recordings were made at the Manassas jazz festival in 1975. His bandmates on those recordings were Bill Allred and Tommy Gwaltney.

DOC EVANS died in 1977 at seventy years old.

Edited April 30, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

One of the most interesting jazz-guitarists I've heard is BUCKY [John] PIZZARELLI, who was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1926.

Interestingly, Pizzarelli is self-taught and was first involved in jazz when he was trying out new ideas with Joe Mooney's small modern jazz group before moving into studio work in 1954, when he went to work for NBC.

During the twelve years he spent at NBC, he toured with Vaughn Monroe, before moving to ABC, where he was a staffman for Bobby Rosengarden on one of my all-time favourite talk-shows, "The Dick Cavett Show".

It wasn't until the 1970's that Bucky's style evolved into what could be called jazz, but he toured with Benny Goodman and then formed a duo with George Barnes and built up his jazz creds.

He spent the seventies busily working on several projects, recording and playing at concerts.

Pizzarelli plays a seven-string guitar, as does George Van Eps and his style is described as having an all-music approach. He has worked with a variety of artists, all the way from the classicist, Bob Wilber at the beginnings of the Soprano Summit quintet to Bobby Hackett.

The eighties found Bucky forming a duo with his son, John and they have recorded several collections together. One of my favourites is "The Swinging Sevens".

Another album you might find interesting is "The Complete Guitar Duos" [1980-84 Stash] This is also a collection of duos with his son and they are in the grand tradition, as established by McDonough and Kress.

Edited April 30, 2004 by patricia

[LAL]

Thanks Patricia for that bio. on John R.T. I really admire him for his dedication to and meticulous work on early jazz material. Three cheers (and more) for Mr John R.T Davies!

[EKE BBB]

BUCKY PIZZARELLI

[EKE BBB]

DOC EVANS

[patricia]

Thanks Patricia for that bio. on John R.T. I really admire him for his dedication to and meticulous work on early jazz material. Three cheers (and more) for Mr John R.T Davies!

Thanks LAL.

Yes, without dedicated people to chronicle and preserve the steps which JAZZ has taken, through the years, the picture would be incomplete. There is a lot of great stuff being created now, and new artists emerging, but it's the complete story, continued, that interests me.

EKE BBB. As usual, you came through. Fabulous pictures!! Thank you.

Edited May 1, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

And now we have the great "SONNY" [Edward] STITT, born in Boston, in 1924.

Sonny played both the tenor and the alto-saxophone and began to be noticed when he toured with Tiny Bradshaw in 1943-44.

During this period, Sonny met, on separate occasions, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis. There are those who say that Stitt was very influenced by the style that Parker displayed, but there were few saxophone-players, at that time who weren't.

In 1945 Stitt settled in New York and was with the Gillespie band for a year. He also recorded, on alto, with the Bebop Boys and with Kenny Clarke.

He then switched to tenor, for the next few years and co-led a band with Gene Ammons from 1950-1952. After that Sonny fronted his own groups.

After Charlie Parker died, Sonny was in great demand as a visiting soloist with many of the rhythm sections. He also worked with Jazz At The Philharmonic in 1957 and 1959.

During that same period, he was with Gillespie. Then, in the sixties, he played with Miles Davis, at Newport, as part of a tribute to Charlie Parker and as the early seventies rolled around he was with the Giants Of Jazz.

Sonny Stitt was probably one of the most rewarding and consistant performers of his era, despite his well-known twin demons, booze and drugs.

Those who compare Stitt with his chief influence, Parker, miss his personal style, always indentifiable. He was intense, though not as intricate as Parker, with lines which I think are closer to those of Lester Young, if comparisons are to be made.

Jamming seemed to be Stitt's forte and he was a fierce musical adversary, in that context.

SONNY STITT died in July of 1982 at fifty-eight years old.

My favourite Sonny Stitt collection is "Only The Blues" [1957 Verve] which presents the blues in three different tempos. Pay particular attention to the track, "The Eternal Triangle" which has Stitt, Roy Eldridge and the Oscar Peterson trio creating magic. Try it. You'll like it.

Edited May 6, 2004 by patricia